Woolfest 2007

Wonderful Woolfest - here are the pictures, write-up to follow......
I hope a kind guild member will help me out with this as I am off to Malta to be birthing partner to my daughter. It's her first baby and our third grandchild.

Well, I am sorry to say no one came through for me with a write-up on Woolfest!

The guild members that made it up to Cumbria for the event all had a great time. We did wonder if Woolfest would go ahead because of all the rain and flooding we had. But up there they missed out on all the bad floods and although it did rain on and off over the two days, it did not put us off enjoying the whole Woolfest event.

For me it was a special trip because I went up to buy a new spinning wheel. I am now the proud owner of a brand new Lendrum (seen here in the top left photograph). It's the lovely white looking wheel and I have my mum to thank for it. A very special birthday present for me from my lovely mum. As for the rest of the Woolfest experience, the Friday night Spin-in had a great atmosphere. So many different types of spinning wheels and drop spindles in action. All whirling away to a buzz of chatter as people discuss the goodies they had purchases that day or where going to buy the next day. For our guild members the whole thing was rounded off with a get-together on the Saturday night for an excellent meal before embarking back to the midlands on the Sunday morning.

Derby County Show

All Wheels a spinning!

Was this Elvaston or Glastonbury?
In any event the Derby County Show on the 24th June was a complete mud bath. There were furrows in the field from before the 8am start-up time. Then a couple of hours later when it rained in earnest a river started running through the craft marquee. Straw had to be brought in to help with the water and mud problem. Then in the afternoon the temperature and the humidity in the marquee were nearly unbearable. In spite of this there was a high turnout of be-wellied visitors to the show. Duckboards were put down round the site, with tractors, vans and pushchair pushing parents juggling for position on them. Most of the beautiful polished tractors in the exhibition area had to be pressed into service tugging cars out of ruts and horseboxes across the fields.

Maxine, Frances and Mary turned out for the Guild to demonstrate their spinning skills. Frances braved the rain and cycled from her home in central Derby to Elvaston bearing her Louet wheel and Jacob fleece. Maybe Frances had the right idea cycling, because despite listening carefully to instructions Mary got stuck in the mud for an hour on leaving the show (car wheels a spinning) and had to be pulled out by tractor.

Dyes with a Heart

Alison Daykin led a Dyeing workshop for 16 of our guild members. We all had a great day working with Alison's New range of Natural Pure Tictoria powdered dyes. They are very easy to use and give a lovely range of colours. We each went home with yarn samples made up into a comprehensive shade card showing the full range of colours Alison has on offer.

The only preparation we had to do was mordent our fibres the day before. Alison supplied everything else. We had great fun modifying the dyed yarns with iron water and copper warter with some surprising results.

Two New Banners

The Guild has two new banners!

Our old guild sign was stolen along with all our exhibition stuff, all the guild members beautiful works, a spinning wheel, wheel chair and the camper van it was all packed into ready for the Broomfield show last year 2006. The police think the van was stolen to order. But that's all past now and we have moved on and all our guild members have worked hard to replace the items we lost that day and our bright new PVC banners hang well at all the events the guild attends.

Broomfiield Open Day

Sunday 10th June - Broomfield Hall Open Day
This is a great day out for all the family and it proved to be a busy one for Maxine and Anne.

The open day was well attended, the weather was kind to us and the event was busy right up to closing time.

We had queues of children who were fascinated with our spinning wheels and eager to try their hands at spinning. Younger ones just had a go at treadling the wheel. But the older boys and girls were keen to spin a length of yarn.

Maxine and I must have been the most photographed demonstrators of the day, as proud parents took snaps of their little ones spinning with us.

In the pen area next to our stand was the sheep shearing demonstration so the children could follow the process through from fleece to finished product.

Making Silk Bowls

9th June 2007 - Guild Saturday workshop at Hazelwood village hall.
Jean Groom (our chairman) demonstrated how to make silk bowls using silk caps and throwsters silk waste. Layers of silk fibres were paste onto a balloon using a paint brush and PVA glue (watered down). You build up the layers and trap things between them. For example, skeleton leaves or interesting textured fibres. You leave the glued fibres to dry completely before removing from the balloon. The result is a beautiful delicate silk bowl.
A tip from Mary Hawkins, don't use a balloon with print on it. This comes off onto the silk. Mary's bowl now has the word England (in reverse) and the George Cross on the inside of her bowl.

Jean demonstrating the technique, Anne getting all stuck-up and silk-cap balloons drying out in the sun. Here is the finished result of my bowl from that days workshop. It's a project I will try again. And, here is my other half wearing a 'silk cap'..........well what can I say.

Woolfest 2006

As promised here are photographs of last years woolfest exhibition. Just to give you an idea of what it's all about, lets start with the live stock. Angora goats, Gotland sheep, Leicester Longwool and many more.

The exhibition had a large and interesting variety of stands with all types of textile crafts represented. Last year there was a strong emphasis on felt making with exibits from small pots to a full sized Yurt and demonstrations on how to make Nuno felt.

There were lots of beautiful natural fibres to choose from as well as a wide range of exciting modern yarns. There were dyes, books and equipment in abundance, just about everything you could possibly want for any textile project. Looking forward to Woolfest 2007!